PS2 Review: Batman Vengeance (2001)

While the world at large is lost in Arkham City, I get left behind by the video game curve, as always. Someday I'll get around to playing that one, I'm sure, but until then I'll simply muse about the one quality Bat title for the PS2, Batman Vengeance. This directs me to one of the things which turns me off a bit about Arkham Asylum/City: I prefer my superheros to be in cartoon form. Any attempts to flip on the realist switch just rub me the wrong way. I think the inherently ridiculous qualities of the superhero genre lend themselves far better to the off-worlds of animation than to realistic motivation and mise-en-scene, hence my preference for Mask of the Phantasm (1993) over Batman Begins (2005), for instance. It's no coincidence, then, that I enjoy Vengeance as much as I do. Set in the rich cartoon universe of The New Batman Adventures TV show, Vengeance begins with the apparent death of the Joker, and subsequent levels/battles with the rogues' gallery unravel a complicated conspiracy against Batman. The third-person gameplay is solid, and the inclusion of a first-person view (for firing those signature Batarangs, grapple wires, and other gadgets) is a nice twist on the normal beat-'em-up formula. Unfortunately, driving the Bat-vehicles (on the ground and in the air) is tedious at best, and these excursions are mostly exercises in trial-and-error frustration, rather than a suitable relief from the more combat-heavy portions of the game. And Vengeance is a bit on the short side, with no really enticing reasons to play through it again. However, the story is generally well-paced and interesting, and the music/voice work are fantastic, featuring the cast of the aforementioned animated series reprising their roles. Bat-fans will love the chance afforded by this game to inhabit and interact with the wonderfully noir world of the show, and more general audiences will find a completely competent action game, that is, if they can forgive its lack of shiny next-gen graphics.